The value of the property of Russian dollar billionaires has increased by 152 billion dollars (roughly 3.3 trillion CZK) over the past year, i.e. by more than two fifths. High natural resource prices and the recovery of property values after the slump that occurred immediately after the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine contributed to this.
However, the value of the property of Russian billionaires has not yet returned to the pre-war level, the Russian version of Forbes magazine reported according to Reuters.
According to Forbes, Russia now has 110 dollar billionaires, 22 more than a year ago. The total value of the wealth of these billionaires increased to 505 billion dollars (almost 11 trillion CZK) over the last year from 353 billion dollars. The number of Russian billionaires rose, although five people who renounced their Russian citizenship dropped from the list, Forbes pointed out.
According to the magazine, the richest Russian is Andrei Melnichenko, who acquired a large fortune thanks to his fertilizer business. Forbes estimates that the total value of Melnichenko’s fortune has more than doubled over the past year to $25.2 billion (roughly CZK 540 billion).
Vladimir Potanin, who is the largest shareholder of the mining giant Nornickel, took second place with assets worth $23.7 billion. He is followed by the majority owner of NLMK steel mills, Vladimir Lisin, with a fortune of $22.1 billion, who was in first place a year ago.
In 2021, i.e. before the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine, according to Forbes, the aggregate value of the property of Russian billionaires was 606 billion dollars. Russia launched an attack on Ukraine on February 24 last year. Subsequently, it became the target of extensive economic sanctions by Western countries.
The Russian economy shrank by 2.1 percent last year. At the same time, forecasts, including those of the Russian authorities, right after the start of the attack by Russian troops on Ukraine, predicted that the Russian economy would show a decline of more than ten percent in 2022.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month raised its estimate for the growth of the Russian economy this year to 0.7 percent from the previously expected 0.3 percent. However, he cut the estimate of economic growth next year to 1.3 percent from 2.1 percent.
